for meet cutes day 21 - a is a stable hand for the king and they're grooming the horses when b barges in and says "don't let them find me" and hides in the hay from the clinking armor outside

for 366 words - dumbfounded

386 words by gdocs


Albus hasn't seen that many unusual things in all of his time of working for King Kingsley. Still, having someone barge in on his barn when he's brushing a horse's tail takes the cake.

Albus is dumbfounded when it happens. He drops the brush that he was holding, and him and the guy, a tall blond with blue eyes that are full of fear, stare at each other, both of them frozen. Albus can faintly hear the clink of armor nearby, as if the king's soldiers are running after someone. Slowly, Albus starts to put the pieces together. He's about to say something, when the blond breaks his freeze and puts his finger to his lips.

"Don't let them find me, please!" he hisses, as the clinking gets louder. With that, he dives into a pile of hay in the corner of the barn. Albus doesn't bother to tell him that there's probably horse poop on the bottom of the pile.

Deciding to trust this guy and pretend like everything's normal, he picks up his brush and continues brushing the horse.

For the second time in five minutes, someone bursts into his barn. This time, it's the king's guard.

"Have you seen a blond running somewhere near here?" one of the soldiers asks.

Albus tries to remain calm, but his heart feels like it's going to jump out of his chest.

"My barn door's been shut," Albus says. He hopes he doesn't seem too guilty.

The soldier that questioned him frowns, but he turns to his other soldiers, whispers something, and they all nod.

"Thank you for your time," another one says, and they leave.

Albus counts to sixty in his head before he finally croaks out, "You can come out now."

The blond pops up from the pile of hay, pieces of hay sticking to his shirt. Albus knows that he could lose his job if the blond is caught, but for some reason he was compelled to do it anyway.

"Thank you," the blond says, giving Albus a big smile. "I'll just be going," he says, walking toward the door.

"Wait," Albus says as the blond is about to push open the door. He wonders if he'll see this guy again. "What's your name?"

The blond hesitates, before giving Albus a smile again.

"Scorpius."